US Politics Thread |OT| THE DARKEST TIMELINE

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

General Betrayus indeed

BetrayMs.

[Brehvolution]

http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=8452ed0b-18be-4057-a376-babfd31322cb

Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)

Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)

This country is fucked.

[Am_I_Anonymous]

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against David H. Petraeus, contending that he provided classified information to a lover while he was director of the C.I.A., officials said, leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison.

[Phoenix Dark]

I can't imagine him being indicted.

[Joe Molotov]

Paul Ryan, Boy Wonder ain't gonna run.

[benjipwns]

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/mitt-romney-2016-114199.html

The selling of Mitt 3.0
Romney is promising he’ll be ‘different’ this time.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-moves-to-reassemble-campaign-apparatus-for-2016/2015/01/12/d968592e-9a88-11e4-96cc-e858eba91ced_story.html

In the conversations, Romney said he is intent on running to the right of Bush, who also is working vigorously to court donors and other party establishment figures for a 2016 bid. Romney has tried to assure conservatives that he shares their views on immigration and tax policy — and that should he enter the race, he will not forsake party orthodoxy.

On New Year’s Eve, Romney welcomed Laura Ingraham, the firebrand conservative and nationally syndicated talk-radio host, to his ski home in Deer Valley, Utah. Romney served a light lunch to Ingraham and her family as they spent more than an hour discussing politics and policy, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

“He was relaxed, reflective and was interested in hearing my thoughts on the American working class,” Ingraham said in an e-mail Monday. “He was fully engaged and up to speed on everything happening on [the] domestic and international front. To me, it didn’t seem like he was content to be just a passive player in American politics.”

Romney’s undertaking to re-engage and pursue anew the GOP’s leading financial and political players began Friday, when he told a private gathering of donors, “I want to be president.” He also told them that his wife, Ann, was “very encouraging” of another campaign.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING

[Barry Egan]

[Joe Molotov]

MITTMENTUM

[Great Rumbler]

I don't give a shit if two guys, two gals, guy-gal, whatever it is, I believe that any human being in America, or any human being in the goddamn world, that wants to be married, and if it's same-sex, more power to 'em. What also chaps my ass, some of these churches, have the high horse that they get on and say, 'We as a church do not believe in that.' Which one of these motherfuckers talked to God, and God said that same-sex marriage was a no-can-do? Okay, so two cats can't get married if they want to get married, but then a guy can go murder 14 people, molest five kids, then go to fucking prison, and accept God and He's going to let him into heaven? After the fact that he did all that shit? See that's all horseshit to me, that don't jive with me.

[benjipwns]

Game changer. Bet that's in the Supreme Court's opinion.

[Phoenix Dark]

I don't give a shit if two guys, two gals, guy-gal, whatever it is, I believe that any human being in America, or any human being in the goddamn world, that wants to be married, and if it's same-sex, more power to 'em. What also chaps my ass, some of these churches, have the high horse that they get on and say, 'We as a church do not believe in that.' Which one of these motherfuckers talked to God, and God said that same-sex marriage was a no-can-do? Okay, so two cats can't get married if they want to get married, but then a guy can go murder 14 people, molest five kids, then go to fucking prison, and accept God and He's going to let him into heaven? After the fact that he did all that shit? See that's all horseshit to me, that don't jive with me.

And that's the bottom line.

[Snake]

I don't give a shit if two guys, two gals, guy-gal, whatever it is, I believe that any human being in America, or any human being in the goddamn world, that wants to be married, and if it's same-sex, more power to 'em. What also chaps my ass, some of these churches, have the high horse that they get on and say, 'We as a church do not believe in that.' Which one of these motherfuckers talked to God, and God said that same-sex marriage was a no-can-do? Okay, so two cats can't get married if they want to get married, but then a guy can go murder 14 people, molest five kids, then go to fucking prison, and accept God and He's going to let him into heaven? After the fact that he did all that shit? See that's all horseshit to me, that don't jive with me.

I'm glad we finally received the text of Austin 3:16.

[Phoenix Dark]

If Romney couldn't beat Obama with the economy halfway in the shitter, how the fuck does he think he can beat Hillary with the economy rolling? No wonder he wants to keep bringing up foreign policy (nevemrind that Russia is now crippled as fuck).

[toku]

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/13/7541253/obama-wants-cheaper-broadband-in-the-us

Obama just bullshitting, playing with hearts now

[Great Rumbler]

An anonymous advisor to Mitt Romney told the Boston Globe in an article published on Tuesday that if the former Republican nominee had been elected President, there would be no Islamic State terror group in Syria and Iraq, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin would never have invaded Ukraine.

“There wouldn’t be an ISIS at all, and Putin would know his place in life," an anonymous longtime advisor told the Globe. "Domestically, things would be in better shape.”

 

[Joe Molotov]

Am_I_Anonymous is just prepping the crowd for Romney 3.0.

[Joe Molotov]

Be a Libertarian, brehs.

Roger Ver, a high-profile member of the Bitcoin community who is commonly known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” has been denied a US visa — despite having been born in the country.

Ver is well known in the Bitcoin community as an entrepreneur and angel investor, having funded products including Blockchain, Ripple, and Blockpay. He became known as “Bitcoin Jesus” after giving thousands of coins of the virtual currency away for free. Ver was born in the US, making him a citizen there, but he renounced his citizenship in March — and now he says the government isn’t letting him back in.

As Coindesk is reporting, Ver posted on Twitter that the US government had refused his recent request for a non-immigrant visa, leaving him “effectively locked out of his native USA.”

***
The fiercely libertarian entrepreneur has also appealed for others to follow his lead on citizenship, in June launching a website that helps wealthy people pay their way to citizenship on his new island home of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies.

He surrendered his American citizenship a month after moving to the islands, in February 2014.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-jesus-visa-application-denied-2015-1#ixzz3Ol086L7T

[Brehvolution]

I renounce my citizenship!

Ok

Uhhh.... I want to come back for something...

No

Tyranny!

[Brehvolution]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tom-omara-profane-outburst

I used to do computer work for this guy and his law office in the late 90's. He wasn't in office then. I think we go to the same church(if I have to go  )

[Joe Molotov]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ron-paul-institute-paris-attack-false-flag

Roberts wrote that the attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo "has many of the characteristics of a false flag operation." He speculated that the U.S. perpetrated the attack to bring France under greater American control.

"Clearly, France was showing too much foreign policy independence," Roberts wrote. "The attack on Charlie Hebdo serves to cow France and place France back under Washington’s thumb."

 

[Brehvolution]

 

[jakefromstatefarm]

My favorite trope regarding conspiratardation is the absolute inability to accept that anything happens without America's approval. Like, it never dawns on people that, in revealing how the world really works, they're reinforcing a myopic worldview that is obviously biased to its environment.

[Brehvolution]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/holder-ends-seized-asset-sharing-process-that-split-billions-with-local-state-police/2015/01/16/0e7ca058-99d4-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without evidence that a crime occurred.

Holder’s action represents the most sweeping check on police power to confiscate personal property since the seizures began three decades ago as part of the war on drugs.

Since 2008, thousands of local and state police agencies have made more than 55,000 seizures of cash and property worth $3 billion under a civil asset forfeiture program at the Justice Department called Equitable Sharing.

 

[Great Rumbler]

It's about time.

[Phoenix Dark]

Oh shit!

[Human Snorenado]

Pretty sure how we know this one will play out

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/supreme-court-takes-gay-marriage-case

[Phoenix Dark]

Pretty sure how we know this one will play out

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/supreme-court-takes-gay-marriage-case

SC fixes the cable fucks teatards?

[Human Snorenado]

Don't be fatuous, Maurice

[benjipwns]

http://www.speaker.gov/general/12-taylor-swift-reactions-president-obamas-free-college-idea

[Great Rumbler]

Don't quite your day job, Boehner

No, wait...

[benjipwns]

http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/16/give-brats-a-chance/

The coming race for Barbara Boxer’s California Senate seat could be a fabulous free for all — maybe not the 150 candidate gubernatorial recall extravaganza eventually won by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003, but still exciting: Dozens of ambitious citizens slugging it out in a “jungle primary,” with the top two vote-getters then facing off in November, 2016. Villaraigosa, Becerra, Tauscher, Speier, Sanchez, Schiff, Bass, Swearengin, K. Johnson. And those are just some of the insiders who might run, not the outsiders (Rob Lowe! Go!).

Fun, fun fun. Unless, of course, reporters decide — as they already seem to be deciding — that state Attorney General Kamala Harris and billionaire Tom Steyer are the only candidates with a chance, and therefore the only candidates worth covering. (Steyer is ‘viable,’ in part,  because he managed to waste millions failing to elect green candidates in 2014.) Thus L.A. Times veteran political writer Mark Z. Barabak tweets

For all the predictions of crowded US Senate field in California, most likely 2, 3 viable contenders, max. Rest oddities/sideshow.

Journalists love to publicly complain about the influence of money in politics — it’s one of those safe causes that doesn’t compromise your objectivity.  But when it comes time to campaign, journalists do the donors dirty work for them by refusing to cover candidates’ who aren’t backed by lots of money.  Those candidates are deemed “non-viable” oddities and not worth telling voters about.

There’s no excuse for this: 1) It’s a self-fulfilling prediction. Of course fringe or underfunded candidates won’t be ‘viable’ if they can’t get press (“free media”) to catch the voters’ attention;. 2) Even if long-shot candidates stay on the fringe, covering them would have entertainment value. Newspapers cover obscure TV stars these days. Political candidates are often — I’d say, usually — more colorful than actors. The premature winnowing by self-satisfied journalistic pros drains democracy of much of its exuberance, presenting voters with a sharply limited array of options. No wonder they feel alienated. Then the pros scold them for low turnout.

I was a non-viable candidate once — in 2010, I got my 65 signatures and ran against Boxer. What the hell. But there was a third candidate in the race, a man named Brian Quintana. A year earlier, when he was just a private citizen, the LAT had actually deemed him newsworthy enough to publish a full length take down. But when he actually ran for office — well, then suddenly he apparently wasn’t interesting enough to cover at all. The Times wouldn’t want to waste readers’ time by writing about him. (He still beat me, finishing 2d.)

It’s tempting to think journalists’, or at least their egos, actively relish their role as the gatekeepers between ambitious would-be pols and the uninformed voters. After all, what smart, plugged-in reporter would want to spend his time covering a longshot “oddity” candidate the reporter knows doesn’t have a prayer? If journalists have some sort of duty to cover everyone — well, that would put the candidates in charge, not the reporters.  Can’t have that. We’re not their PR men!

But why don’t reporters exercise their egos by promoting the obscure candidates they like, giving their events and speeches extra play,  trying to “break” them the way ambitious DJs try to “break” struggling singers (or the way Time magazine promoted Wendell Willkie)? Reporters could be self-appointed kingmakers.. It might not be fair — if the LAT reporter didn’t take a liking to you, you’d be sunk. But a blatantly ‘kingmaking’ press culture would still be better than the current brutal, clinical triage. At least there’d be a decent chance for an underfunded lightning strike with the electorate.

In effect, the ‘viable’ candidates would be a) whoever is deemed ‘viable’ under current criteria and b) whomever the major reporters decide to push. (A) + (B) beats just (A).

Dave Brat was once a longshot “oddity,” remember. Now he’s in Congress and Eric Cantor, whom he beat, is fighting to get linked on RealClearPolitics. There may be other Dave Brats out there, on the left and the right — if only journalists would give them a chance.**

__________

** David Drucker, Washington Examiner‘s excellent political reporter, says “I’m all for sideshows if they actually have a base of support (ie. voters) and the money & resources to back it up.” And how do they get that base of support without coverage? Drucker tweets that longshot candidates “who catch fire do so regardless of press – especially cuz of Internet.” Hmm. Mighty convenient to have the internet out there to do the tedious work (publicizing the unpublicized) that journalist won’t do!  But of course the argument is too neat: there will be plenty of candidates who won’t ‘catch fire’ on the internet but who might catch fire if the print and broadcast press covered their campaign stunts.

  Based Kaus.
 

[benjipwns]

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/report-exposes-political-bias-comcast-owned-nbc-msnbc-news

Report Exposes Political Bias at Comcast-Owned NBC & MSNBC News

[Great Rumbler]

Bias?! On the news?!

[Madrun Badrun]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/holder-ends-seized-asset-sharing-process-that-split-billions-with-local-state-police/2015/01/16/0e7ca058-99d4-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html
edit: already posted

[chronovore]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/holder-ends-seized-asset-sharing-process-that-split-billions-with-local-state-police/2015/01/16/0e7ca058-99d4-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html
edit: already posted

Worth a double-post, no worries.

However, can Holder actually mandate that? It leaves state laws for asset forfeiture open, though it does take away the federally arranged sharing structure.

[Phoenix Dark]

The federally arranged sharif structure was the large incentive for local police fuckery. Removing it ends a major cash cow for police departments, and while local police will remain dicks they won't be rewarded for it by the Feds. I'd expect a decrease of fuckery in this regard.

[benjipwns]

Sadly, the order apparently doesn't apply to joint task forces.

[benjipwns]

Politico has installed a siren in its Arlington newsroom that goes off every time the website breaks news, according to an internal memo sent Friday morning by chief executive Jim VandeHei. The siren, per VandeHei’s memo, is just one component of Politico’s strategy for 2015, a year in which it plans to expand its investigative and enterprise reporting teams and launch a European addition.

The siren, according to Politico staffers, is the noisy brainchild of Blake Hounshell, the site’s editorial director.

“Is Blake really installing a siren in the newsroom?” VandeHei writes. “Yes. He and Susan“—Glasser, Politico’s top editor—“want people jacked when we break news, whether it’s a quick hit from one of our policy teams or a holy-crap scoop from the Congress gang. It has been and always will be our core strength.”

[Phoenix Dark]

http://m.dailykos.com/stories/1358619

Tony Perkins getting annihilated.

[benjipwns]

MYRTLE BEACH — Businessman Donald Trump said he is giving “serious thought” to running for president in 2016 and that he thinks he would be the best person for the job.

Trump spent most of his 30-minute keynote speech at the S.C. Tea Party Coalition Convention held at Springmaid Beach Resort on Monday afternoon saying that he is the best person to lead the country.

He told a room of about 800 people that he stands apart from others who have been mentioned as potential candidates for president.

“I can get things done,” he said. “I know how to do it.”

...

Myrtle Beach resident Sandy Adams said she already was planning to attend the convention before learning that Trump would be there, but was most excited about seeing him.

“I was hoping that he’d make the announcement that he was running today, but oh, well,” she said. “I would vote for him if he runs.”

Adams, who also attended the event last year, said she was impressed with his speech.

“All of the issues that he talked about are the issues I care about,” she said. “And I think they’re the issues most people talk about.”

...

He also said he thought he contributed to the convention selling out.

“Whenever I’ve gone to a Tea Party event, they’ve had a record turnout,” he said. “And again, this year they have sold out for the first time. ... Maybe I’ll give credit to somebody else, but you know where it all comes from. I mean, this is the biggest turnout they’ve ever had.”

Businessman Donald Trump joined Fox & Friends to discuss potential 2016 presidential candidate and two-time White House hopeful Mitt Romney. Trump, who backed the 2012 candidate, said that while Romney is “a nice man,” he wouldn’t be able to beat Hillary Clinton.

“I supported Mitt Romney and he didn’t bring out the people; he choked in the end,” Trump said. “I mean, the last month was a disaster. He should have won that election. He was going against the president, who was absolutely not good and not doing well.”

“Frankly, he just choked. He choked like a dog, and we cannot allow that to happen again,” Trump continued. “We really need help in this country. This country is going to be a disaster if we keep going along the way we’re going.”

He added that he would consider “jumping in” to the 2016 mix in the next three to four months.

[Great Rumbler]

[Brehvolution]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/tea-party-mlk-wild-bill-cowby

“We are the people who practice Dr. King’s dream," he said. "It is the Tea Party where people are not judged by the color of their skin, and it’s Tea Party Americans who believe that character still counts.”

“So today, I am officially announcing that the Tea Party is taking Martin Luther King away from the liberal left,” Finley said.

“And to you race-baiting promoters of division and hatred, you’re not getting him back until you renounce your shameful skin-color politics and start practicing the politics of character," he said to applause.

[Joe Molotov]

Romney choked like a dog strapped to the top of a family sedan.

[Positive Touch]

I mean didn't expect much about Ferguson but damn that was so far below those already lowered expectations

[Great Rumbler]

"We can’t slow down businesses or put our economy at risk with government shutdowns or fiscal showdowns," he said. "We can’t put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance, or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street, or refighting past battles on immigration when we’ve got a system to fix."

"And if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things," Obama concluded, "I will veto it. It will have earned my veto."

 

[Phoenix Dark]

we gonna miss this level of swag in a couple years brehs

[Phoenix Dark]

hey guys, America is so great isn't it? Yea, America is pretty awesome!

-every GOP SOTU response to Obama.

[benjipwns]

President Obama spent much of Tuesday’s State of the Union calling for civility in politics — then taunted Republicans over his two election victories, after many of them applauded the looming end of his political career.

Mr. Obama issued a broad call for “a better politics” that began with common principles, and said his agenda isn’t political, pointing out “I have no more campaigns to run.”

That drew rousing applause from the GOP side of the aisle, which had sat on its hands as Mr. Obama had ticked off partisan proposals he wanted to see, and threatened vetoes of bipartisan bills Republicans are trying to pass.

The applause was too much for Mr. Obama, who punctuated his declaration that his campaigns are over by saying, “I know, because I won both of them.”

He's really tarred this office and thrown the country into a brier patch.

[benjipwns]

[TakingBackSunday]

[chronovore]

Jesus, that comeback is straight ether. The ONLY way Boehner could have kept a straight face, as he did, is if he was not paying attention.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

from my FB feed.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act that burn is covered.

[Phoenix Dark]

[benjipwns]

smh not taking foreign policy nor our allies seriously, and she was Secretary of State, no wonder Benghazi happened

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I remember some fretting about what if Dmitri didn't keep to the deal and ran against Putin. Foreign politics, good times.

[close]

[Brehvolution]

Bibi knows that any new peace in the middle east won't be as lucrative as tension is. Who better to make your case to than warhawks ?

[Human Snorenado]

I know she's really just trying to keep her name in the news so she can continue to grift idiots out of their money, but PLEASE BABY JESUS LET THIS HAPPEN.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/sarah-palin-interested-president-2016

[Phoenix Dark]

I can't help but think there aren't 5 judges willing to throw the healthcare industry into absolute chaos. Roberts had a chance to end the law, before it started. It doesn't make sense to rule that states have the right to not set up state exchanges, then later rule subsidies can only be accessed in states that set up exchanges.

[Joe Molotov]

Urban Institute? I've heard that their research is a bit lazy and some of their conclusions are too agressive for my taste.

[benjipwns]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/us/politics/romneys-consideration-of-candidacy-is-closely-tied-to-his-faith-allies-say.html?_r=0

WASHINGTON — A prominent Republican delivered a direct request to Mitt Romney not long ago: He should make a third run for the presidency, not for vanity or redemption, but to answer a higher calling from his faith.

Believing that Mr. Romney, a former Mormon pastor, would be most receptive on these grounds, the Republican made the case that Mr. Romney had a duty to serve, and said Mr. Romney seemed to take his appeal under consideration.

...

But now as Mr. Romney mulls a new run for the White House, friends and allies said, his abiding Mormon faith is inextricably tied to his sense of service and patriotism, and a facet of his life that he is determined to embrace more openly in a possible third campaign.

Kirk Jowers, a Mormon family friend who lives in Utah and chaired Mr. Romney’s leadership PAC, said that Mr. Romney’s contemplation of a third bid is motivated by an “almost devout belief that he needs to do something for this country.”

But this time, Mr. Jowers said, Mr. Romney would treat his religion differently. “In 2008, Romney risked being a caricature of the Mormon candidate,” he said. “Now everyone seems to know everything about him, and that will be very liberating for him to talk about his faith.”

Mr. Romney’s faith was complicated by the fact that during his 2012 run, his team was reluctant to let him mention his religion at all, creating a vacuum that hid a side of him from voters and allowed it to be filled with Democratic attack ads. The 2014 Netflix “Mitt” documentary — from filmmaker Greg Whiteley, a Mormon — offered an appealing, behind-the-scenes look at Mr. Romney as a man of faith and family. Many in his inner circle said that if he runs again, this is the version of Mitt Romney that they would present to the country.

[Trent Dole]

Yeah sure Mitt, run with what was considered a minus to be hid away a bit last time as a prominent feature of the new campaign. That'll work. For people that want Hillary in office.